Judges won’t order DNR to require emissions cuts

An appeals court declined Wednesday to order the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to adopt rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions, saying the agency does not have a legal duty to protect the atmosphere for future generations.

The Iowa Court of Appeals declined to extend Iowa’s public trust doctrine, which requires the state to protect lakes, rivers and nearby lands for public use, to include the air in the atmosphere. Judges said they had no legal precedent to expand the doctrine, which has been narrowly interpreted in previous cases.